Arsenal face ’secret payments’ investigation
FIFA has launched an investigation into whether Arsenal have broken regulations which could leave the club exposed to serious penalties - even expulsion from the Champions League.
BBC Newsnight has learnt that a police investigation in Belgium has concluded that Arsenal made secret payments of £1m to take over KSK Beveren, which has brought dozens of players from the Ivory Coast into Europe - including Emmanual Eboue and more than half of the Ivory Coast’s world cup squad.
Arsenal have released a statement denying any wrongdoing.
Read the full Newsnight investigation. Newsnight is on BBC Two tonight at 10:30pm.
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- Posted at 06:00 PM · Permalink · Print · 2473 views · Last indexed by Google on the 16th May 2008
- Tags: Champions League
A good example of Arsenal showing the kind of ‘moral leadership’ that Wenger demanded from Chelsea. Surprised to see that honest broker Mr D Dein is deeply implicated.
It couldn’t happen to a nicer, self-righteous bunch. I wonder what else could happen apart from fines and expulsion from the CL? Relegation to the Championship? That should fill their new 60,000 seater stadium.
Heh. Have a look at you lot.
Arsenal loaned the money to a third party. If a bank lends me money and I buy shares in some other company with that dosh, does it mean the bank controls that company. Obviously not. Nothing will come of this.
You lot on the other hand, should worry about CSKA Moskva, Obi Mikel and the laundering Abramovich is being investigated for.
I’m surprised to see just the one playground type “Your club is badder than mine” comment from a North London expert in all things sinister. Maybe Dein, Wenger et al could use your expertise at this time, Nigel, or will the G14 cabal bail them out?
Man this really is funny. Do you guys really think that just because clubs and their managers are so high-profile that they are also moral authorities?
Everyone has skeletons in the closet. Roman does, Mourinho probably does, and I’m sure Fergie and Wenger do as well. So what?
They won’t relegate Arsenal - just like they won’t relegate Juve.
But still, this is too much fun to miss out on.
Having read all the Newsnight coverage, when you get past the usual poor journalistic hyperbole that comes with the reporting of football in this country there doesn’t seem to be much more to it than a rather ‘creative’ interpretation of the rules.
The questionable aspect is the nature of the loan and the returns that Wenger and Dein may have expected over and above the normal ‘feeder club’ arrangement, but I can’t see that they had or expected to gain any controlling interest in KSK Beveren. David Dein is unquestionably a shark, but he’s surely not daft enough to stick Arsenal’s name on contracts that could incriminate Arsenal. Is he?
Nigel, maybe you should read some of the unbiased coverage on the Obi Mikel saga - the Norwegian nationals covered the story in great depth and Chelsea’s name was hardly mentioned at all. Interesting to note that a new coach arrived at FC Lyn and sanctioned the sale of Mikel to United a week after his appointment. His name is Henning Berg, which rings a bell for some reason…
Right I’m very pissed due to an emergency intake of Guinness (well by my definition of emergency) so excuse any typo’s .
David Dein and Professor Wenger have sat on high horses all season having a pop at us (unlevel playing field, too much dosh etc) and now ….amazingly a bit of dirty business heads toward themselves. Now we MAY not be angels but at least RA doesn’t try and play the high moral ground (he says nothing!). The press/broadcast media would have launched into us if we had been the subject, but instead we get a low key “Arse FC might be guilty” message with an underlying ” but “David..the man from Del Monte…Dein he say no!”
Well, this proves the slimy bastard is just as underhand as any other multi millionaire with potentially eqaully (alleged) exploitative philospohies underpinning his businness and life methodology…- except our one who started with fuck all and made his money off his own (and other Russians ) back. In the USA both would be lauded as entrepreneurs, but in good old GB we like to play the hand of the politics of envy.
Welcome to all our worlds you North London twats!
I hope you get relegated Arse FC and then expelled from the CL, and then banned for 5 years, and then up playing Leyton fucking Orient. Then you’ll know something like how its felt to be a Chelsea fan for the last 30 years. GJ is back and lurking big time!
Grocerjack,
It’s not our fault you lot won fuck all when it was all about earning success by succeeding first. Don’t bother giving us the Russian money salvation speech because it’s bollocks money that you lot didn’t earn.
Tsk tsk, the bitterness literally spills over the brim when you lot try to justify the fact that you’re buying whatever success that’s heading your way right now.
LondonLoves,
The G14 “cabal” doesn’t have much time to concentrate on member matters as they’re too busy fending off Kenyon who keeps begging them to let Chelsea in. We can take this “G14 are out to get us” rubbish seriously when Kenyon removes their bollocks from his chin.
Nigel,
Well done with the ‘you’ve never won anything’ line and then suggesting that we’re bitter in the same breath - a magnificent display of hypocrisy of the type that only ever comes from your corner of North London.
It must really sting that someone turned up and spoilt the ‘Invincibles’ party and arrogant belief that they would dominate English football for a few years with United on the slide. But of course, at least you can claim the moral high ground as everything you have is founded on all that is good and pure - the Hill-Wood family’s money, the Henry Norris manual of football administration, George Graham and David Dein to name just a few.
But ‘history’ for an Arsenal fan is all about trophies and boasting that you have more ‘class’ than everyone else, isn’t it?
Hill-Wood family’s money? Heh. Please show me how their money is dirty. They’ve run it like a proper club for years. We actually have accounting books that mean something, unlike Abramovich’s “I want that one!” style management of a club that was over a million quid in the red last year.
Give me any kind of proof on Henry Norris’ dodgy dealings being connected with Arsenal, David Dein’s supposedly sinister dealings (Mourinho’s rubbish and unfounded comment on Champions League fixtures has already been thoroughly and comprehensively proven wrong). George Graham was kicked out (rightly) of the club, that’s how we dealt with a bad apple.
As for the alleged hypocrisy, I was responding to grocerjack’s little “back in our day…” bollocks.
Through the years, we’ve earned success after having tough times as well. Chelsea did nothing internally to get where they are today. Therefore my pride is neither misplaced nor unfounded. We won trophies, we have class, and yes, we’re proud of that.
You try shaking off the “we bought everything” tag for decades and tell me then if you’re successful. That’s the legacy of Chelsea today. And that’s why your “pride” in your current success will always be defensive to begin with.
Dear me Nigel - and you think we’re blinkered?!
I suggest you delve through your history books and see exactly what happened to Henry Norris. As for the Hill-Wood family’s money - for your information, they made it in the cotton mills in the north of England (a fairly exploitative trade) and ploughed it into Glossop Town FC, who eventually reached second in the league amidst various cries of artificially purchased success. When the cotton trade took a downturn, they pulled out of Glossop Town (whose annual turnover now equates to about a weeks worth of Thierry’s wages) fairly sharpish, sold up and fucked off to London and invested in another ‘business opportunity’ - Arsenal.
And remind me again, the suspended transfer ban imposed upon Arsenal for the Flamini deal (I think) - has it finished yet? Such class. Plenty of questionable behaviour and buried skeletons in the history of every football club my friend - to pretend otherwise is rather foolish.
And just think - had those clever chaps at White Hart Lane taken him seriously, Abramovich might have bought Spurs. Just imagine how much that would have got up your noses?!
I have read my history books and there is nothing to show that Arsenal had anything to do with Henry Norris’ engineering of Arsenal’s promotion. Either he stood to make a lot of money via bets, or he wanted to pull favours later on. Fuck knows, because nothing is documented of that league board meeting.
Your accusations against the HIll-Wood family are merely accusations against the capitalist mode of production. How exactly is ANY other club different (exceptions being clubs from the former Soviet Union and other socialist states)? You’re digressing now. Where did the HIll-Woods break laws, where did they act like criminals and not businessmen?
And I’ll remind you again: Arsenal were not “punished” at all for the Flamini transfer because it was perfectly legal. Flamini wanted to leave, Marseille were pissed at Flamini for holding out, and then took out their anger at Arsenal because it happened to be the club that signed him. There was no contact with Flamini behind Marseille’s back (we don’t employ Kenyon, pity), and Marseille gave permission to Arsenal to talk to the player. As for the suspended transfer ban, that was because of Arsenal using an agent that did not have the required license to operate in the EU. And that suspended ban will only come into effect should Arsenal employ another agent who does not possess a license. The agent misinformed Arsenal, not our fault.
So Glossop Town had ’sharpish’ upturns in terms of success under the Hill-Woods, what exactly does that have to do with Arsenal buying success? I’ve looked at spending patterns from the 20’s and 30’s and we were in no way benefitting from the supposed gold bags the Hill-Woods had brought with them.
You’re right to say that every club has skeletons in its closet, we’re no different. The George Graham bung scandal proved that. But these skeletons have to be rightly identified, and their impact on a club’s legacy can only be judged based on how the club’s internal machinery deals with them. We got rid of George Graham, publicly apologized to the fans that he’d robbed and life went on. We did not try to protect him from deserved punishment the way Chelsea did after Mourinho and Kenyon were caught red-handed with Cole. Cole’s future at Arsenal was fucked as a result (and will probably be sold this summer as a result), how would Chelsea deal with such behaviour from their staff? Are Chelsea’s executives tolerant, unforgiving, or even involved in such behaviour? This is the sort of stuff that gives a club class. I’m afraid in my opinion, Chelsea will never possess that as long as Sugar Daddy’s regime is in place.
There go the red-tinted specs again. No evidence of wrongdoing, suspended transfer bans aren’t punisment, nothing was Arsenal’s fault and so on. Interesting point about the spending in the 20’s and 30’s though - odd that the official Arsenal site mentions reference to Arsenal being referred to as the ‘Bank of England club’.
I’ll refrain from arguing further with such a fervent supporter of God’s very own football club - rather a pointless exercise this, really. I’m always amazed that fans of such clubs with ‘class’ feel the need to talk about it endlessly.
Ashley Cole is mercenary little classless chav who saw someone waving cash at him, that much we can probably agree on. But if it hadn’t been Chelsea, it would have been someone else.
Completely agree on Cashley Cole, the little money-grabbing c*nt.
As for the “Bank of England” tab, it was because Arsenal’s finances were extremely stable, thus the Bank of England title. It wasn’t because we were rolling in dosh.
Agreed, this conversation’s gone down the drain, down to both of us.
Good day.